Hello!
Just returned from a walk on the GR 65 and the GR65.3 from Oloron St. Marie to Puente la Reina.
Started from Oloron 20.05. The day before a heavy rain started that continued for 4 days. Stayed the first night in Lurbe St.Christau at a place called Au Bon Coin. The next three days was a combination og walking and busstages. The paths were really bad and walking on the N-134 was really bad in the rain. There was in my opinion a lot of heavy traffic, big trailers, often several in a row.
Stayed the second night at the Permayou in Accous and the next in Urdos at the Voyageur. At the turist office in Bedous they warned about the path and said either road or bus. Since I did not want more time on the N-134 I decided to take the bus from Urdos to Somport the next morning. Luckily the weather was excellent in the morning, so after four days in the dark I had a splendid view at Somport and on the walk down to Canfranc Estacion and for the walking through Aragon the coming days.
Not many peregrinos on the camino. On the French side I met 8-10 people, at the albergue in Ruesta we were 12.
Before I started from Oloron I spent two days in Lourdes and was a bit shocked about the hordes of people, the big business and touristimpression. As a peregrino I met in Accous said: There were hundreds of souvenirshop, but I never found a food shop.
To me it was a bit like coming to Conques after some quiet days from Le Puy. The lots of people were overwhelming.
The camino through Aragon was very well marked. A lot of work had been done the last years to improve the camino. Many places there were walkingbridges. I had worried about some crossings on steppingstones, but there seemed to be bridges where my old guidebook said I had to cross streams on stones.
Randi